London Burns for the Third Night in a Row

Rioting and looting has spread across at least six new neighborhoods in London Monday evening. There were reports of new incidents in Hackney, Lewisham, Clapham, Peckham, Croydon, and Woolwich during the day. Violence spread as the night went on. Teenagers are using bikes and mopeds to coordinate the attacks, and using Blackberry Messenger to communicate without being traced by police, The New York Times' Ravi Somaiya and John Burns report. Prime Minister David Cameron announced Monday he would return home from his vacation in Tuscany to convene a cabinet meeting to address the riots.

Gangs of young people, "threw firecrackers, bottles, rocks, chairs and shopping carts," during incidents Monday. Groups were scattering and regrouping with ease when riot police charged. Police were hedging their bets in areas and letting looting go unchecked. They focused their efforts on stopping new outbreaks instead of focusing on areas they already lost, according to the Times. Croydon was one of the areas hit the worst. A furniture store burned out of control Monday evening, while other stores and cop cars were also set aflame. (All images via Getty.)

Violence spread to the city of Birmingham Monday, the first city besides London to see any unrest. Police in the area were arresting youth after as many as 200 gathered near a mall and smashed windows and looted stores. Later in the evening a police station was lit on fire, The Guardian's Vikram Dodd reports in their terrifying live-blog (1:01 a.m.). Another Guardian reporter, Jason Rodrigues, almost had his bike stolen on his way home from reporting on disturbances in Hackney (11:54 p.m.). A group of six masked youth attacked him and tried to steal his bike until a van raced around the corner of the street he was one. Two men got out and one threatened to pull a knife on the six youth and accused them of stealing his bike earlier in the evening. Everyone walked away after that.

Ben Schoefield, an ITV News trainee, lives in Liverpool and reported about 100 rioters tore up the street he lives on. They threw bricks in windows and lit cars on fire. He even tweeted pictures of the hole in his door, the brick that went through it, and his car on fire.

Guardian reporter Sam Francis witnessed two police officers chase 30 masked youth into a police station and barricade them there. Cop cars raced to aide their colleagues contain the rioters. Another reporter, James Ball, uploaded this photo to his twitter account of the scene outside the police station.

A BBC journalist, Alex Hudson, was beaten up and had his phone stolen as he tried to report on the riots in Hackney. He told the Guardian he passed a group of young people on his way home who were headed to a police station to try and light it on fire. Vikram Dodd supplied the live-blog with an official arrest tally: "334 people have been arrested, 69 people have been charged and two cautioned, says the Met as of 3.50 am BST."

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